Ever After Music Festival 2016

*Guest Post By Shaida K*

Hello June! With festival season in full gear, I decided to kick summer off with a bang, or should I say bass drop… From June 3 – 5, I had a chance to attend my very first EDM (electronic dance music) festival. Oh, but it wasn’t just any festival: Ever After Music Festival also happens to be Canada’s largest EDM fest featuring some of the world’s best DJs. With headliners like Skrillex, Zedd and Adventure Club I had a feeling it was going to be epic. And I was right…

Going to get a bit nostalgic here. I love a good concert, but Ever After Music Festival was an extra special experience for me. Here’s why…

• It was hosted in my hometown of Kitchener, Ontario. For those who’ve lived there or visited, you’ll know that KW throws a solid party (like the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany). It’s a youthful, vibrant twin city with tons of college and uni students so it’s the perfect place to have an EDM fest in my opinion. Bonus: I got to squeeze in a visit with the parentals.

• Ever After Music Festival was held at Bingemans — a park that I used to kick summers off at as a child! I’m happy to report that I love the wave pool just as much as I did when I was a kid.

• Last but not least: my middle school crush was performing!!! Who was my crush you ask? Skrillex aka former lead singer of From First to Last, Sonny Moore. *swoon*

I arrived at the fest a bit exhausted (the rush hour commute from Toronto was no fun), but I got super excited the moment we walked through the gates. The epic view from the top of the hill at Bingemans instantly fueled me with energy. The music was pumping, festival-goers were sporting vibrant and outrageous clothes and people were running down to join the party! All signs of good times ahead…

I attended Ever After for the music, but there were so many other fun things to do at the fest: from free entry into the water park (um, yes!!) to sumo wrestling. We also loved chilling under the giant mushrooms with food and drinks when we needed a little break from the dance marathon…

But it was all about the music at this festival. With top DJs from around the globe and state of the art stage productions, the audience at Ever After was all smiles as they cut shapes well into the night…

All in all, it was a fab weekend and an ah-mazing way kick off to the festival season! I highly recommend checking out Ever After Music Festival next year. Here are some tips if you do:

• Be sure to pack a light bag and don’t forget your portable charger, rain jacket, bathing suit and an empty water bottle (there are refill stations onsite)!
• The festival is cashless. With so many vendors onsite (food, drinks, clothing) you’ll want to make sure your wristband is topped up. Don’t worry: the festival will give you a credit refund for the dollars you don’t spend. My reco would be to load $100 on your wristband and hopefully that will be enough to last you the entire weekend.
• Explore, explore, explore! The DJs are incredible, but the activities are super fun and a great way to meet new people.
• From out of town? No worries! There is camping avail onsite at Bingemans so you can organize a group of friends and split a tent or cabin. This is a festival you’ll want to share with your BFFLs.

A special thanks to Ever After Music Festival for hosting me. As always, all reviews and opinions are entirely my own.